


Ninety-Five Percent

by Taliax



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Dragon Kagami Tsurugi | Ryuko, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hawkmoth Defeat, Horse Max Kanté | Pegasus, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, POV Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Team as Family, not miracle queen compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:00:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26219758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taliax/pseuds/Taliax
Summary: While keeping watch over the assault on Agreste Manor, Pegasus informs Ryuuko that the team has a ninety-five percent chance of survival.  That's less than perfect.Maybe perfection isn't what their team—or their friend—needs.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Max Kanté & Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 27
Kudos: 135





	Ninety-Five Percent

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KatyaDarlink](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatyaDarlink/gifts).



> Thanks for the request Kathy! Their prompt was Max and Kagami friendship. This might be a bit angstier than you intended, but I hope you enjoy! Also thanks to Bren for beta reading!
> 
> Oh, and this fic ignores Miracle Queen and assumes that none of the heroes' identities have been revealed yet.

“I hate this,” Pegasus said with surprising vehemence. He leaned back against the roof tiles, his dark glasses glinting in the moonlight.

“Why? Defeating Hawkmoth has been our goal all along,” Kagami replied. She remained standing, her grip tight on the handle of her sword. After all these weeks of patrols, the miraculous weapon finally felt as familiar as her fencing sabre. “You knew it would come to this, and you still chose to follow Ladybug into battle.”

As had she. Despite knowing the devastation it would bring to the first friend she’d ever had.

“But that’s the point!” he huffed. “I thought we would be _in_ battle. Not sitting out here, waiting to provide backup while everyone else storms the castle.”

“Technically speaking, it’s a manor.” She kept her eyes trained on that manor.

The Agreste Manor. Adrien’s home. Was he standing in one of those dark windows? Would he glimpse the red of her suit, the yellow of her scleras?

“It’s an expression,” Pegasus said. “Anyway, don’t you feel it too? Don’t you want to go to help them?”

_Of course. More than anything._

If Adrien was still in there, blind to his father’s identity…

“We have to trust them,” she said quietly. Ladybug had a soft spot for Adrien, too. She wouldn’t let anything happen to him.

Still, she itched to become the wind, to sweep in and carry him away from that awful mausoleum of a house.

“I’ve never known you to be okay sitting on the sidelines, Ryuuko.” Pegasus peered at her over his glasses, his arms crossed behind his head.

“It doesn’t matter what I’m okay with. Ladybug and Chat Noir gave us a role. They wouldn’t have asked this of us if it were not important.”

She kept reminding herself of this, just as Ladybug had reminded her before. The other girl had asked if she was comfortable being on the support team. She’d listed her reasons—Kagami was one of the most powerful heroes, but also the most versatile. She would be able to mount a rescue if Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Queen Bee, Viperion, and King Monkey failed.

Of course, that was _seven_ heroes that had to fall before she would be needed. It was difficult not to feel sidelined. 

Did she know that Kagami had ties to Adrien? Maybe Ladybug was just concerned that her emotions would interfere with the mission. Unfortunately, it was a valid argument when their enemy literally fought using emotions.

So she pushed them aside. She could be calm, like still water. It wasn’t yet time to bring the storm.

She checked the communicator in her sword’s hilt. No messages from Rena, who was keeping lookout from the manor’s roof. Kagami could faintly make out her orange silhouette against the gray shingles. King Monkey crouched next to her. They were the first backup team, while Kagami and Pegasus were the final line of defense. Should Hawkmoth take any of the other heroes’ miraculouses—Ladybug, Chat Noir, or Viperion’s in particular—Pegasus would open a portal to provide a quick retreat. Kagami, as the Wind Dragon, would sweep them all away before Hawkmoth or Mayura could learn their identities.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that. Hopefully, they would just stand sentinel on this roof, and the rest of the team would be out of the manor before the moon reached its height.

“I hate feeling useless,” Pegasus said quietly.

“You're not. You are our last defense should our teammates fail. It is an honor.”

He, of course, had a reason to be the last defense. His was the power of transportation.

Hers was the power of perfection. Of the storm itself. She _should_ be inside right now.

She clenched her fist, then let it relax. It wasn’t enough.

“Uh—Ryuuko?”

“Yes?” She grunted while moving through one of her fencing forms. That, at least, might help her mind focus. Drive away the errant emotions. Frustration with Ladybug wasn’t only selfish; it was dangerous. She couldn’t leave a gap for Hawkmoth in her heart.

Perfection. She was perfection.

“...Do you mind if I join you?” Pegasus asked.

She started, her foot slipping and knocking a tile free. It clattered into the gutter.

“You don’t have a blade.”

He shrugged and pulled the horseshoe from its place on his back. The metal bent at his command into something resembling a rod.

“...I suppose that will do. But don’t get too distracted. We must be ready to move at a moment’s notice.”

Pegasus nodded, then fell into something resembling a stance next to her. His feet were too far apart, his knees too straight, but she couldn’t expect much more of a beginner.

Out of habit, she nudged his feet closer together, then nodded.

Then she let herself flow through the steps. The sword became a part of her; the evening wind danced over her suit, brushed her hair from her face. Worries about the mission evaporated. The team would be fine. Adrien would be fine.

Even though his father was a supervillain. Even though he was too bright to suffer so terribly.

And no matter if they won or lost, he _would_ suffer.

Pegasus caught her sword in his palm. When had he gotten in front of her?

“You might want to watch where you’re swinging that thing.” He grinned.

“Sorry.” She felt her face heat. She’d gotten too lost in the freedom of the movements. Most of her fencing partners knew not to crowd her so closely.

“Speaking of watching…” his head turned back towards the manor, where King Monkey and Rena Rouge were slipping in through a balcony door. If they had been called in, Kagami and Pegasus could be needed at any time.

“Right.” She took a deep breath, then released it. She couldn’t afford to become distracted, even if the alternative was suffering in silence.

Perfection. She could be perfection.

Pegasus fidgeted, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Anxious, perhaps, or excited? He had seemed so eager to fight before, and she couldn’t make out his expression beneath his dark glasses.

“I hope they’re alright,” he whispered.

Anxious, then.

“They will be,” she assured him. Her voice remained confident, regardless of the storm that brewed inside. Pegasus couldn’t know how much she cared for Adrien. Unless— _until—_ they defeated Hawkmoth tonight, their identities were to remain secret.

“Yeah.” His fingers drummed against his side. “There’s a ninety-five percent likelihood that we all survive.”

Survive. Not win. That was less comforting.

Her communicator still hadn’t sounded. Either the team didn’t need more assistance, or they were immobilized and unable to request it.

Did it matter how perfect she could be if she was separated from those who might need her?

She itched to ask Pegasus to use his Voyage, but once he did, he couldn’t use it again. The timing had to be exact.

_Status report?_ She typed into the pommel of her sword. But which team member to send it to? She didn’t want to distract anyone from the mission.

Patient. She could be patient.

Maybe that was more important than perfection right now.

Pegasus cleared his throat. “Ninety-five percent is good, you know. They have the advantage of surprise, and numbers. They’ll be alright.”

How had they shifted from her comforting him to the other way around? Maybe he’d noticed her stiff posture, as if she were carved from stone rather than the three elements granted by her miraculous.

“That’s what I said,” she replied curtly. Her thumb still hovered over her message.

She hit backspace until it was gone. She could be patient.

Suddenly her communicator beeped. She tapped the message faster than she could think.

**Queen Bee:** _Look down_

She did.

The large manor doors opened. The first heroes to exit were Rena Rouge and Carapace—holding a bound Gabriel Agreste between them.

“They did it!” Pegasus beamed.

“Of course,” Kagami said, releasing the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “They did have a ninety-five percent chance, after all.” 

King Monkey and Viperion appeared next, restraining Nathalie Sancouer. The woman’s head was bowed, in stark contrast to Gabriel’s bold sneer.

But where was Ladybug, and Chat Noir? And more importantly, where was— 

Adrien. 

In Ladybug’s arms.

Queen Bee hovered close to them, and seemed to be sharing a whispered conversation. Even Kagami’s enhanced hearing couldn’t make out the words from this distance.

“Oh no,” Pegasus breathed. “I was afraid of this.”

Kagami leapt from the roof. Pegasus followed, hitting the ground moments behind her.

“Wind dragon,” she whispered, then flew to Adrien’s side.

Ladybug and Queen Bee jumped at her arrival.

“Geez, you should know better than to scare someone like that. Especially after all we’ve been through.” Queen Bee pressed a hand to her chest. Her hair comb and Ladybug’s earrings were beeping, but Kagami barely noticed.

“Is he hurt?” She leaned over Adrien. 

His eyes fluttered open. “I’m… heh… purr-fectly fine…”

Kagami blinked. Was that… a cat pun?

_Oh._

_OH._

“Let him rest,” Ladybug said, holding Adrien even closer, if that were possible. He was already snuggled up in her arms, close enough to have left tear stains down her left bicep.

“He needs a place to stay,” Kagami insisted. With Hawkmoth defeated, what would happen to him? He wasn’t quite old enough to stand on his own.

“Carapace has it covered. Please, just… I need to be alone with him for a moment,” Ladybug whispered.

It was only then that Kagami noticed tears streaking her face, too.

“Of course.” She bowed her head. Chat Noir—Adrien—was Ladybug’s partner, first and foremost. Kagami could respect that.

It didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

“Ryuuko?” Pegasus caught up and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?”

She shrugged. They’d won. That should have been enough, right?

“It sucks, doesn’t it,” he said quietly. The other heroes were still walking away from the manor, towards police cars that now flashed beyond the gates.

“Yeah,” she murmured. “It does.” 

He wiped his eyes beneath his glasses. For a brief moment, the flashing red and blue lights reflected off his tears.

Why was it that everyone could cry except her?

“Can I tell you something?” Pegasus asked, hovering near the gates. The other heroes had already crossed into the street. Officer Raincomprix took Gabriel just before Rena and Carapace’s transformations wore off.

_Alya and Nino?_ Kagami blinked. They were Adrien’s friends too. Perhaps Chat Noir had been the one to entrust them with their miraculouses.

Adrien and Ladybug had already disappeared. Wherever Adrien was, Kagami couldn’t protect him.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Pegasus sighed. It was only then that she remembered he’d been trying to ask something.

“Sorry. What did you say?”

“I predicted this,” Pegasus admitted. His hands clenched at his sides. “There was a seventy-eight percent chance that Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste. I should have warned Ladybug.”

He… he’d _known?_ She considered herself close to Adrien, even though he’d never switched targets. She felt a fool for not seeing it.

But what would she have done if she knew?

“She wouldn’t have wanted to know,” she said quietly. Ladybug was the staunchest defender of their identity rule, even though it isolated her more than anyone.

Kagami knew the burden of perfection.

“Still. I can’t help wishing I’d done _something_.” He sighed.“Honestly, I hoped I was wrong. Adrien doesn’t deserve any of this.”

“You’re one of his friends too.” It was the only explanation that made sense. Kagami searched her memories for someone matching Pegasus’s general appearance, but came up blank.

“I hope he would think so. Two years ago, he gave up his place in the Ultimate Mecha Strike III Tournament. It was one of the kindest things anyone has ever done for me.”

Ultimate Mecha Strike? The game sounded familiar. Perhaps Adrien had mentioned it to her, but she wouldn’t know anything about a tournament.

“I’m not surprised. Kindness comes naturally to him,” she murmured.

Despite his monster of a father, despite his loveless home, Adrien had always carried enough light in him to spare.

Pegasus nodded. “I hope we can return all the kindness he’s given us. He’ll need us now more than ever.”

A flash of pink drew Kagami’s attention to a nearby rooftop. She squinted, unsure if her enhanced eyes were deceiving her.

“Is that… of course,” Pegasus breathed. “There was a sixty-three percent chance of Ladybug being Marinette. Her leadership abilities and quick thinking offset her innate clumsiness.”

Marinette. Holding hands with Adrien on the distant rooftop.

Oddly, that sight was a comfort. If Kagami trusted anyone else to take care of Adrien, it was Marinette.

Of course, if they were still this close to the manor, that meant that Adrien could see the police driving away with the only family he had left.

_No. Not the only family._

His _real_ family still stood beside the street, smiling and raising their weapons in support of the unmasked heroes above. Those who had transformed back already waved or held up other object. Nino raised his red cap, and Kagami swore she saw Adrien smile.

Maybe it wasn’t perfection that Adrien needed. In that moment, what was most important was that he felt _loved._

“You’re right. We’ll be here for him,” Kagami whispered to Pegasus.

Then she raised her sword in salute. 

“It’s what he deserves.”


End file.
